{"id":805180,"date":"2026-08-07T01:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T01:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/805180\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T01:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T01:08:11","slug":"readers-sound-off-on-why-massachusetts-has-lost-its-competitive-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/805180\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers sound off on why Massachusetts has lost its competitive edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, I pitched my editors on a series of stories that would take a deep dive into why the state\u2019s competitive edge is fading and what can be done to reverse it. They bought it \u2014 and on Tuesday, my introductory commentary<\/a> went online. Emma Platoff followed with a story<\/a> about a Massachusetts entrepreneur who moved his biotech to the Bay Area, and my colleagues have more stories in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

Five key takeaways from my piece: <\/p>\n

Once a star performer, Massachusetts is losing ground to other states on job growth<\/a> and new business creation, while the Trump administration is seeking to undermine the state\u2019s higher education and research institutions.Tens of thousands of residents are leaving the state<\/a> each year in search of cheaper housing and better job opportunities.The rise of remote work turned our white-collar job mix into a liability, untethering educated workers from their offices and making it easier for them to move out of state.Our political leaders are complacent and ineffective, the business community is detached, and an ongoing rift between the state and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has stalled action on issues like the fallout from declining commercial property values. Massachusetts has turned its economy around before, reinventing itself in the 1980s<\/a> as a knowledge-based economy.<\/p>\n

My assertion that \u201cMassachusetts has lost its mojo\u201d struck a chord with readers. <\/p>\n

Get Trendlines<\/p>\n

A business newsletter from Globe Columnist Larry Edelman covering the trends shaping business and the economy in Boston and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should be the No. 1 priority and focus of the Senate primary and general election this year,\u201d Jim Bacon said in an email. <\/p>\n

Several themes emerged in your emails. (Note: Spelling and grammar have been edited to conform with Globe style.)<\/p>\n

Blame the politicians<\/p>\n

\u201cMassachusetts political leaders need to pay more attention to these challenges and listen to the business leaders. I remember the days of the Vault. They knew how to fix things.\u201d \u2014 Craig Carlson<\/p>\n

\u201cOur single-party state is corrupt and poorly led. My mayor in Boston cares more about bicycle lanes<\/a> than public safety.\u201d \u2014 Chip Elfner<\/p>\n

\u201cMany other dark blue states and especially Democratic-run cities have the same and even worse problems. A big part of Massachusetts\u2019 mess is the noncompetitive elections.\u201d \u2014 Tobe Berkovitz<\/p>\n

President Trump isn\u2019t the problem<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t blame Trump. That\u2019s a total bailout. We have brought all these problems on ourselves and we never learn.\u201d \u2014 Richard Chapman Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does Trump figure into the Massachusetts economy? Don\u2019t you think it could be turned around at the state level? I just don\u2019t see that happening unfortunately.\u201d \u2014 Dave Sweeney<\/p>\n

I replied to Dave: \u201cThe administration\u2019s cuts to science and medical grants have a significant effect on universities and research organizations, a key sector of the Massachusetts economy. So does its decision to rescind green technology grants<\/a> to any state that didn\u2019t vote for the president. And its immigration policy will choke off the only source of labor force growth. That said, obstacles such as high taxes, zoning restrictions, and energy policies are the state\u2019s purview.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bigger picture <\/p>\n

\u201cThe loss of so many residents combined with an aging population are symptoms of the coming global paradigm shift from one of endless growth in both business and population to one in which the population will continue to shrink to a more sustainable level while economists, political, and business leaders struggle to come up with some sort of new \u2018steady-state\u2019 economic model.\u201d \u2014 Clifford Shatz<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen this writing on the wall for some time and over the past year have become worried we\u2019re about to enter a flat spin (airplane technology \u2014 I\u2019m a pilot) that is unrecoverable.\u201d \u2014 Charlie Tillett<\/p>\n

Taxes<\/p>\n

Several readers said high taxes are driving people out of the state. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my husband died, my trust lawyer said he was filling out the forms for me to become a resident of Florida. I\u2019m not very rich but [am] above the Massachusetts threshold of $2 million for [the] inheritance tax. There are thousands like me in Massachusetts. I don\u2019t want to leave, but for my children\u2019s sake, I must consider it.\u201d \u2014 Patricia Donovan<\/p>\n

From what I\u2019ve heard over the past couple of years, the estate tax<\/a> is a bigger problem than the millionaires tax. Advising residents on how to establish residency in another state is a booming industry for lawyers.<\/p>\n

Final thought<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s economy<\/a> isn\u2019t circling the drain, but the trend is moving in the wrong direction. <\/p>\n

As Art Eddy put it: \u201cThe party is over! Massachusetts must stop the arrogance! The best and brightest are eagerly leaving!\u201d<\/p>\n

Larry Edelman can be reached at larry.edelman@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this year, I pitched my editors on a series of stories that would take a deep dive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-805180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}